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LOS ANGELES (CN) — Walt Disney, Universal Pictures, Warner Bros. and other movie studios on Tuesday filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against MiniMax, a Chinese company that operates the Hailuo AI artificial intelligence image- and video-generating service it promotes as “a Hollywood studio in your pocket.”
The Hailuo service, the studios said in a complaint filed in Los Angeles federal court, offers its subscribers an endless supply of infringing images and videos featuring the studios’ famous copyrighted characters, including those from the “Star Wars” movies, the Marvel and DC Comics superhero movies, “The Simpsons,” and the “Despicable Me” movies.
“MiniMax’s bootlegging business model and defiance of U.S. copyright law are not only an attack on plaintiffs and the hard-working creative community that brings the magic of movies to life, but are also a broader threat to the American motion picture industry, which has created millions of jobs and contributed more than $260 billion to the nation’s economy,” the studios said.
MiniMax’s Hailuo AI service was developed using innumerable unauthorized copies of the studios’ copyrighted works, and it operates by reproducing and distributing infringing copies and derivatives of those works, according to the studios.
If, for example, a MiniMax subscriber submits a simple text prompt requesting the character Darth Vader in a particular setting or doing a particular action, the studios argue, MiniMax generates and displays high-quality, downloadable images and videos featuring Disney’s copyrighted Darth Vader.
The Chinese business has attracted millions of subscribers and is reportedly worth $4 billion, the studios claim. It has refused to implement technology, as other AI businesses have done, that would prevent infringement of their copyrighted works, according to the studios in their complaint.
In addition, the studios say, MiniMax has gone so far in its advertisements for Hailuo AI as to encourage subscribers to create images of, for example, the copyrighted characters of Spider-Man and Supergirl kissing in the park.
“MiniMax’s large-scale infringement is systematic, ongoing, and willful, and plaintiffs have been, and continue to be, substantially and irreparably harmed by it,” the studios argue. “Plaintiffs bring this action to stop MiniMax’s intellectual property theft and to uphold U.S. copyright law and the crucial incentives that reward those who create, not those who take.”
MiniMax representatives didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Tuesday’s lawsuit echoes the claims brought by Disney and Universal filed earlier this year against Midjourney over an artificial intelligence image-generating service the studios called “a bottomless pit of plagiarism.”
The use of AI in movie production and other forms of entertainment has been a hot-button issue in Hollywood, where a 2023 strike centered around writers and actors seeking to protect their livelihoods from the encroaching use of AI. Last year, Hollywood’s video game performers also voted to go on strike after talks for a new contract with major game studios broke down over AI protections.
David Singer and other attorneys with Jenner & Block LLP in Los Angeles represent the studios.
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